Groove Merchant Records

I love this place. It’s just the right size that you can spend an hour or two and look at pretty much every record in the store, and maybe shoot the s*** with Chris for a while. There’s a listening station so you can try before you buy, and there’s always a great selection of jazz, soul & rock to dig through. I’ve never left the store empty handed.

I went here once with my friend. He was looking for discount records while I was saving my money for a true gem. He walked out of this place with like 6 or 7 awesome records in VG to VG+ condition for like $ 25. I found my ABSOLUTE favorite album of all time in NM condition for like $ 28. Two totally different types of record collectors left that store with giant smiles on their faces that day.

This is a great fixture of the lower haight. They stock a variety of genres and have interesting titles in each of them. The owners/​staff are also very knowledgeable and can recommend or help you find that certain something.

Love this place. Neighborhood institution, tons of unique selections and hidden gems, unpretentious attitudes. Long may it live.

Chris is awesome! Record sellers — this is your guy!
I walked in and told the clerk about the collection of records I was trying to sell. He let me know that Chris would buy from me at 50−60% of the record’s value, and then he took down my information. The next day, Chris called me and we set up an appointment.
Chris stopped by my house and ended off spending $ 1800+ on my collection of 70’s and 80’s rock and jazz. He didn’t buy as many records as I expected — around 2 of the 12 boxes I had, but he definitely spent way more money than I expected him to, which is fine with me. Like they said at the store — he gave me 50−60% of each record’s retail value across the board. Chris is really easy to haggle with. He also gave me sound advice for how I should go about selling the rest of the collection.
LONG STORY SHORT — Selling my records to Chris was a great experience. I would HIGHLY recommend others to talk to Chris before selling to anyone else — ESPECIALLY before selling at the big stores like Amoeba or Rasputin. Chris will definitely hook you up.

A diggers paradise! Great curated selection, I like that I don’t have to sort through a bunch of crap to get to the good stuff. Great stock of 45s as well. Most importantly though, the folks here know their tunes and are more than happy to turn you on to some new joints. Not cheap, but this sort of place simply ain’t for the Crosley crowd. Killer selection of R&B + Soul, as well as Rock.

Pretty stellar vinyl shop. Lots of soul and r&b. Jazz galore. Small but well-​curated rock selection with some cool prog and uk boogie influence. Pricey but not to be missed.

It’s 6pm. I’m standing outside the store. It’s closed. No signage. No phone message. Make sure you always call ahead.

I’ve been going here for the last few years and it’s flat out one of the best records around. The selection is top notch; this place doesn’t have filler, just a great, tight selection of good quality, often hard-​to-​find albums. Even the $ 1 bargain bins can produce some good stuff. The prices might seem «pricey» to some but they’re fair and reasonable. (Dude you just walked in there and found an original Fela record… yeah, it’s not gonna be $ 5.) With that said, you can also find some GREAT deals. There’s even a section titled something like «awesome albums for $ 5.»
And Chris is the man. His knowledge of great music is phenomenal. The guy should be teaching a college course on the side about awesome music. Listen for what’s being played in the store, you’ll probably hear something new and awesome while looking through the collection.
Bottom line: this place is a digger’s and colllector’s dream.

Love love love! I don’t usually write reviews but I loved this place. It was my first time buying a vinyl and he suggested so many artists! I ended up buying what he was playing for the store. Definitely coming back

My friends and I joke about living in the «vinyl apocalypse» nowadays. Many used LPs I used to pass on in record stores in 90’s I have to pay double for the reissues now. And so many of those stores either don’t exist any more or are completely picked over. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are hidden gems still out there if you’re down to drive far and dig deep. Either way, these days you’re into vinyl or you’re not. And if you are, then Groove Merchant is for you. Let’s check it out:
Groove Merchant stocks many diverse genres. From serious DJs to casual music fans, there’s something here for everyone. There is also a listening station which is a huge plus that many stores do not have anymore (like Wombleton in LA). Yes there are LPs here that go for $$$ but there are also a clean $ 5 bins with good records as well. There is a good turn over here too, always new stuff on the shelves.
Cool Chris lives up to his name — very knowledgeable without being pretentious or intimidating. He can rap with serious heads and tourists alike. He never goes for the «hard sale» or makes you feel weird if you don’t buy something that he recommends (like Deadly Dragon in NYC). The other people who work there are the same way.
Overall Groove Merchant is a great shop — San Francisco would not be the same without it. Highly recommended to all.

Awesome shop! Amazing collection of jazz, hip hop, funk, soul… Great prices and great staff. A must for crate diggers

The thing about Chris is that he has figured out the system for cracking open great collections and getting them into the store. Won’t divulge here but rest assured he always has THE MOST collectible records in SF — maybe the country.
Tight inventory — no fluff — not for bargain hunters… but you will leave with some great stuff.

Next time I have 80 bucks I can spare, I’m going down to the GM to pick up that ESG record.
Now someone will grab that… never seen it in a store! Never seen A LOT of amazing records at decent prices in the racks that they have here. Verrrry respectful and helpful staff, you gotta stop by this joint if you dig soul/​funk. So many options, you can’t leave empty handed.

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. I want to move to SF just so I can go here every single day. No joke. This place has vinyl for DAAAAAYS. And not the same goddamn copy of Judy Collins/​Carly Simon/​and the shit that Rasputin craps out.
And the prices are hella reasonable. I got a Beatles vinyl for a dollar. A DOLLAR. Good condition. In San Jose, I guarantee it would have been at least 4 or 5. Also, I saw a copy of Led Zeppelin 4 at Street Light Records (which i adore, no disrespect!) for 13 (in worse condition) and at Groove it was 7. WHAAAAAAAT??? Deals off the chain! You can’t afford not get your vinyl here! The dollar bin is a treasure trove! I assure you, I did not spot a single Neil Diamond album in the mix. Or that Jackson Browne album, Hold out. I swear at Rasputins they have like 85 367 copies at any given location.
10 mins into it I had already collected 7 albums. .. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by the selection. It’s intense. If I lived in the city I would never step foot in another record store again; it would be betrayal. It’s not just the prices! They have copies of albums, by pretty popular artists, that I have not seen at Rasputin, Streetlight, or Amoeba.
P. S.: I want to say to Matthew R: Jim Croce has the voice of an angel!

Absolute winner. Cozy store, most records are really good meaning that you don’t need to dig through a whole bunch of crappy stuff to find something. There were even some classics in the 1 $ bin that still played really well, such as, Al Green — Call on Me and B.T. Express.
The dude at the counter is also really cool and friendly. He was playing DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist type of funk, which really made my day!

This place has an incredible selection. I have only been once, but Its because I know if I go back, I’ll go bankrupt!

I mentioned in my Jack’s review that there are two types of record stores; Groove Merchant is in category two. Clean, meticulously organized, with a small but well chosen inventory. This ain’t no thrift store; You won’t have to dig through two hundred Jim Croce albums to find that Brazilian funk album from the 70’s.
The thing is, said album might set you back anywhere from 10 to 50 bucks. You pay a price for the convenience and not having dry fingers that smell like moldy cardboard when you’re done. (Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.)
It’s worth stopping by if you’re out on a music binge; even their bargain bin had a few cool albums in it.

«Livin for the city/​Livin for the city/​Said/​Oo-​Oo/​Wee»
If I could make a record store my home, this would be it. And I would love to play house with Cool Chris. I would mix up the drinks and he could pull out some obscure Afro-​Cuban soul and make me feel like the only woman in the world getting the best show ever.
I would lounge in the windows and say, «s’up» to every beat digger that came in because that’s what the guys at Groove Merchant do. I would offer my assistance to help anyone who came in– because that’s what they do. And I would let you stay for as long as you wanted and sample and dig and dig some more– because that is what they do.
This home away from home is a mecca of all beautiful vinyl. Sure you can hike up the street to Amoeba and deal with the douches and the tweekers there– we all have. But if you are being true to your beat digging soul, you will come here. I won’t be offended if you do not take my invite because that only means there will be more vinyl gems for the rest of us.
So welcome and I will let you admire the artwork and tell you where you can find the local artist. I will also tell you where to get some great food and some cool retro digs for your own pad. Aaahhh, it’s good to be home.

It took me a while to warm up to this store. I have mixed feelings on it, but overall I would definitely tell someone from out of town that they need to make the walk down to Lower Haight (from Amoeba in Upper Haight) to Groove Merchant Records.
It’s a nice store but my main complaint is that a lot of their records are overpriced. I suppose that shouldn’t come to any surprise for this day and age or this city. Still, as someone who likes to dig (and honestly, I’m not so great at it) there is a lot you can find for cheaper.
With that said, I would be dumb to write off this store. They carry records nowhere else in the city carries and have access to some of the most obscure records one can find.
So they more or less have a solid selection with very few common records in the store. If you are after a certain something and don’t want to bother spending hours, days, months, years or your entire life digging, this is the spot.